Tag: Paul Corcoran

Hellraisers Journal: Denver Conventions Close; Western Federation of Miners and American Labor Union Favor Socialism

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote Ed Boyce re Socialism f Workingman, WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 11, 1902
Denver, Colorado – W. F. of M. and A. L. U. Conventions Favor Socialism

From the Lead City Daily Tribune of June 10, 1902:

Big Bill Haywood, Sec Tre, WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p4, June 9, 1902

Moyer Elected President.
———-

Denver, June 9.-The annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners adjourned last night. Edward Boyce refused to serve as president and Charles Moyer of Lead, S. D., was elected in his stead. The other officers elected follow: Vice president, E. D. Hughes, Butte, Mont.; secretary and treasurer, W. D. Haywood, Silver, City, Ida.

—————

[Emphasis and photograph added.]

From the Butte Labor World of June 9, 1902
-Convention Number:

FEDERATION OF MINERS FAVORS SOCIALISM
———-
Charles Moyer, of Lead, S. D., Is Elected President
-Ed Hughes, of Butte, Vice President
-Edward Boyce Retires from Office
———-

Officers Elected WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902

[Highlights from article.]

President Boyce, after a number of years of successful service as president, has retired. His successor, Charles Moyer of Lead, S. D., is regarded as a strong man, and one who will judiciously administrate the affairs of the organization…..

Paul Corcoran of Idaho, whose pardon as one of the Coeur d’Alene miners was effected through the miners, sent a warm and appreciative letter to the federation thanking it for assisting in rescuing him from prison…..

For favoring the pardon of Paul Corcoran a vote of thanks was extended to Governor Hunt and Secretary of State Basset of Idaho……

While the delegates upstairs at the Western Labor Union convention were discussing socialism and adopting it, those downstairs were debating the question with great vigor. The matter came up on the report of the committee on President Boyce’s report. John M. O’Neill of Cripple Creek was chairman, and recommended that President Boyce’s socialistic program be carried out in its entirety…

[T]he resolution and its political plans was adopted Wednesday morning….

One of the most significant actions of the Western Federation of Miners’ convention was the turning down by a unanimous vote the proposition of the American Federation of Labor for a reaffiliation of the two big bodies…..

A Gentle Refusal.

Secretary-Treasurer W. D. Haywood was instructed to notify the American Federation of Labor that in view of the action of the convention’s new departure in espousing socialism the invitation is respectfully declined…..

Ed Boyce Pres n re Socialism, WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902

—————

WESTERN LABOR UNION CHANGES ITS NAME
———-
Will Carry an Aggressive Fight into the Camp of
the American Federation of Labor
-President Dan McDonald is Re-elected
———-

[Highlights from article.]

Officers Elected ALUC Sec Tre Clarence Smith, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902

The American Labor union has closed its annual convention at Denver…..

The name of the organization has been changed from the Western Labor union to the American Labor union.

The gauntlet has been thrown down to the American Federation, and war will be waged all along the line.

The territory of the Western organization will be enlarged to take in great industrial bodies of the East…..

The union has been irrevocably pledged to socialism and independent political action [see resolution below, the platform of Socialist Party of America was adopted in its entirety]…..

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Hellraisers Journal: The Railroad Telegrapher: “Idaho’s Disgrace”-U. S. House of Representatives Investigates

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 2, 1900
Washington, District of Columbia – House Investigates Coeur d’Alene Troubles

From The Railroad Telegrapher of April 1900:

IDAHO’S DISGRACE.
—–

WFM, Wardner Bull Pen of May 1899, Hutton photo 1, 1900—–

THE investigation before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, with reference to the charges made against the United States soldiers under Brigadier General Merriam, growing out of the labor troubles in the Coeur d’Alene mining district in Idaho, has been creating intense interest in labor circles and elsewhere for some time past. Even those who are callous to labor’s wrongs and pin their faith to the theory that the survival of the fittest is the prevailing law in heaven as well as on earth and the other place, have felt some qualms of conscience that such things should happen in “The land of the free and the home of the brave.”

After a strike and some riotous proceedings, which latter could easily have been quelled by the local authorities, the Governor of the State [Frank Steunenberg] suspended the writ of habeas corpus, an infringement of the liberties of the people not even within the prerogative of the President of the United States, without the sanction of Congress. Over eleven hundred citizens were arrested without warrant by this tyrannically-inclined “servant of the people” and confined in a place unfit for human habitation, and kept there for a period ranging from a few days to eight months.

By and through the courtesy of the Miner’s Magazine and the Pueblo Courier, we are enabled to present pictures of some of the men who have been made “Martyrs of the Bull Pen.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Paul Corcoran, Secretary of Burke Miners’ Union, Found Guilty, Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 30, 1899
Wallace, Idaho – Paul Corcoran Found Guilty of Second Degree Murder

From The Butte Miner of July 28, 1899:

IN THE SECOND DEGREE
—–
Paul Corcoran Found Guilty by
a Jury at Wallace.
—–

SEVENTEEN YEARS IN PRISON
—–
The Defense Will Trust to Executive Clemency Rather
Than Risk Another Jury Trial-
After Sentence Had Been Pronounced,
Court Adjourned Until September.
—–

Paul Corcoran, Sec Burke ID Miners WFM, Hutton p186, pubd 1900

Wallace, Idaho, July 27.-Paul Corcoran was this morning found guilty of murder in the second degree by a jury in the district court, for the killing of James Cheyne at Wardner on April 29 last, during the riots, when a mob of 1,000 miners blew up the Bunker Hill and Sullivan concentrator.

Judge Stewart this afternoon sentenced Corcoran to serve 17 years in the penitentiary. Corcoran’s case was considered a test one, and had he been acquitted it is not probable that any of the other 300 men who are under arrest would have been tried for participation in the riots and murders at Wardner. This afternoon, however, Judge Stewart set the trials of Graddock and Inman, on a charge of murdering Smith and Cheyne, for September 4.

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Hellraisers Journal: Witness at Corcoran Trial Will Not Make Positive Identification Despite Threat Made by Mine Owners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 15, 1899
Wallace, Idaho – Trial of Paul Corcoran, Secretary Burke Miners’ Union

From The San Francisco Call of July 12, 1899:

CLARK CHANGES HIS TESTIMONY
—–
Cannot Positively Identify Corcoran.
—–

TELLS ABOUT WARDNER RIOT
—–

ONE SENSATION SPRUNG AT THE MURDER TRIAL.
—–
It Is the Attempt of One of the
Owners of the Standard Mine
to Compel the Witness to
Stick to His First Story.
—–

Special Dispatch to The Call.
—–

Paul Corcoran, Sec Burke ID Miners WFM, Hutton p186, pubd 1900

WALLACE, Idaho, July 11.—In the trial of Paul Corcoran for the killing of James Cheyne the prosecution this morning called John Clark as a witness. Clark testified that he had been recording secretary of the Burke union, but had not attended the two meetings prior to the day of the riot. On that day he was at Mace, where the Standard mine is located, and when the train bearing the men from Burke came along he boarded it and went to Wardner. He went up into the town of Wardner and did not witness the lawless acts perpetrated on that day, but returned to Burke on the train which bore the returning rioters.

Witness said that when the train was nearing Wallace on the return trip he believed he saw the defendant sitting on top of a boxcar. At the time the witness testified before the Coroners jury he swore positively to the identity of the defendant, but since that time he had come to believe that he might be mistaken, and could not now identify Corcoran as being the man he saw on the car, although he had been acquainted with the defendant for more than three years.

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WE NEVER FORGET Jack Smith Who Lost His Life in the Battle of Bunker Hill, Near Wardner, Idaho, April 29, 1899

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

 

WNF Jack Smith, Battle of Bunker Hill, ID Apr 29, 1899

—–

WE NEVER FORGET
Jack Smith, Member of Burke Miners Union (WFM)
Battle of Bunker Hill, Near Wardner, Idaho, April 29, 1899

Jack Smith, age about 28 years, was a member of the Burke Miners’ Union (Western Federation of Miners) who died in the Battle of Bunker Hill near Wardner, Idaho, on April 29, 1899. Newspaper accounts of the day tell the story.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Butte Miner: “Strikers at Wardner Attack the Bunker Hill and Sullivan”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 2, 1899
Wardner, Idaho – Miner Jack Smith Killed in Violent Struggle at Coeur d’Alenes

From The Butte Miner of April 30, 1899:

RIOT AND BLOODSHED
—–
Strikers at Wardner Attack the
Bunker Hill and Sullivan.
—–

THE MILL BLOWN UP
—–
Sixty 50-Pound Boxes of Giant Powder Placed
in the Structure and the Charge Fired-
Jack Smith, One of the Leaders of the Rioters,
Killed by Mistake by One of His Own Men.
—–

WFM, Coeur dAlene Struggle, Stt PI p1, May 1, 1899
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
May 1, 1899
—–

Portland, Ore., April 29.-The agent of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation company at 3:30 o’clock this afternoon telegraphed to this city from Wardner, Ida., that the striking miners had fired the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mill and that it was burning. It is claimed that the mine is loaded with dynamite and if this proves true the entire property will be a loss. The striking miners are also reported to be in possession of the Northern Pacific and O. R. and N. trains and in control of the situation. There are about 100 masked men heavily armed at and about the mill and there have been several skirmishes with the authorities, during one of which one man is reported shot. There are fully 800 miners at Wardner. They are forming to go to the mine in a body and drive out the 270 non-union men employed there.

The company has notified the governor of Idaho of the situation and the secretary of state has been dispatched to the scene of the trouble. The governor has promised to do everything in his power to preserve order and prevent bloodshed, but it is believed that unless prompt steps are taken there will be great loss of life and destruction of property.

Since the telegram from the agent was received the strikers have cut the wires and telegraphic communication with Wardner is now cut off.

The present strike in the Coeur d’Alene mining district in northern Idaho was inaugurated about 10 days ago and is directed principally against the Bunker Hill and Sullivan at Wardner, where non-union men are employed. The demands of the miners for increased wages were granted by the owners, but the miners demanded that the union be recognized and that non-union men be discharged. This the mine owners refused to do and the Last Chance mine closed down. The Bunker Hill and Sullivan, however, decided to run with non-union men until today, when they were driven out by union men.

———-

[Newsclip and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Coverage of the Haywood Trial from Wilshire’s Magazine: Witnesses for the Defense

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There came to [Boise] an array of
defense witnesses full of health and spirits,
brawny, frank-eyed men and cheerful, resolute women.
-John R. McMahon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 9, 1908
Remembering the Haywood Trial: Witnesses for the Defense

From Wilshire’s Magazine of August 1907:

While reviewing the coverage of the Haywood Trial by Wilshire’s Magazine, we came across a particularly compelling photograph of the many witnesses who came to Boise in order to testify on behalf of Big Bill Haywood.

Boise Witnesses for the Defense in the Haywood Trial, Wilshires Aug 1907

The photograph was from an article by John R. McMahon entitled “Story of the Famous Trial” wherein he had this to say about the witness:

In refreshing contrast to the State’s array of official scamps, deputy sheriffs, policemen, clerks, et al., there came to town an array of defense witnesses full of health and spirits, brawny, frank-eyed men and cheerful, resolute women. They did not have to be dragooned into comming; they rejoiced that they could be of service to their imprisoned comrades; their faces beamed with the hope and inspiration of a new day for the united workers of the land. They greeted one another affectionately and with crushing hand grips. It seemed that all the known and unknown veterans of the labor war of Colorado were gathered together. Nearly every man had been causelessly persecuted, jailed, bullpenned, deported, shot at or assaulted by mine owners’ thugs; every woman had been insulted, threatened, arrested or starved out for the crime of sheltering the homeless and giving food to the hungry. If this is the stuff that the western working class is made of, we need have never a fear. These people thrive on persecution.

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